Ezekiel In the Valley
by marinawings
Summary: A prophet is taken by God to a valley of dry bones.


(_Based on a true story_)

Ezekiel had seen angels. He had seen the farthest reaches of heaven and earth and time and still not found the edges. He had heard the voice of God. He had seen a vision of God.

Ezekiel was a prophet.

And now, as he stood in the dark and lonesome valley, he wondered what God was going to do next. That was one thing he had learned about Yahweh--God was unpredictable. That trait seemed to have carried over into the creature designed in His image, but unpredictability in God had more extreme consequences than unpredictability in man. Unpredictability in a man was, "I wonder what he'll be selling in the market today" or "How will he react when I ask him about selling his vineyard?" Unpredictability in God was, "How will He shake the earth today? Which mountains will he move? What visions will he bring me to see?" He was God, after all, and far beyond man's understanding.

God was breath-taking that way, vast and indescribable.

Today, He had set the prophet down in a valley. The sky above the valley was dark, a brownish-purple, roiling with angry clouds and a dreadful silence. And the floor of the valley was covered in dry bones.

A chill ran through Ezekiel's body as he stood in the midst of the bleached bones. What great and terrible thing had happened here to leave behind so many stark remnants of human bodies?

As the prophet stood wondering, a sturdy wind, an energy, lifted him up slightly above the ground, above the bones, and began to gently move him. Moved by the invisible force of God, Ezekiel passed over the bones and around them, touring the valley. He was reminded of one of the many songs of King David, Israel's glorious king of the past: "…though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…" The prophet reflected that this was not the valley of the shadow, but the valley of death itself.

When Ezekiel had been taken all through the valley, the hand of the Lord placed him once again in the center of the valley. He wondered why, cast a questioning look up toward the surging heavens, where silent lightning flashed. The gesture was one born of habit. Ever since his vision of God, the prophet had realized that the Creator did not dwell in heaven alone. God's reach was without limit; His presence filled the earth and the stars and every place beyond.

He was God. That tended to explain a lot, yet the prophet still had questions at times, when his heart and mind ached to stretch themselves and wrap around God's purpose and plan, when nothing less than the divine could solve the mysteries and answer the questions.

So Ezekiel whispered softly, respectfully, "Why, Lord?" as he stood in the valley of dry bones, one hand clutched to his chest in an effort to comfort his restless heart.

God's voice filled the valley, filled Ezekiel's ears, filled his soul. The Lord answered the prophet's question with one of his own. "Son of man, can these bones live?"

Ezekiel was learning to know God better, learning to be surprised and unsurprised at the same time, learning the ways of an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent God of paradoxes and limitless understanding and grace. The prophet answered honestly, a bit helplessly, very humanly. "O Lord God, _you_ know."

The rolling clouds shifted. Yahweh spoke again to His prophet. "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, 'O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: "Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh."'"

Ezekiel hesitated only briefly. What once would have seemed impossible--preaching to dead things--now seemed like his duty, his mission. God tended to do that, tended to take a man's perceptions and preconceived notions and spin them around backwards. The prophet believed that God could do anything, _knew_ the things God could do. So he spoke.

"O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: 'Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh.'" Yahweh. The I AM. God.

A thrill ran through Ezekiel's own covered bones as he spoke the message of God to the naked bones. And as he spoke, there was a sudden, sharp rattling sound. The eyes of the prophet widened as he watched the bones shift, watched them separate, then regroup, watched ribs reform into ribcages, watched jaw bones reattach to skulls… As soon as his voice spoke the name of God, he saw that the bones had come together to form thousands of skeletons, and he watched in wonder as the skeletons stood, bones clanking and rattling with a noise like heavy rain.

The prophet could not contain a gasp of shock and awe and delight as he watched sinews grow over the bones, knitting together to form full coverings of flesh and skin. Complete human bodies stood in the valley now.

Ezekiel waited. At first, nothing else happened. The men just stood still and silent in the valley, just as their bones had done before them. The valley was still a valley of death…

…until God spoke. "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, 'Thus says the Lord God: "Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live."'"

Ezekiel spoke God's words, his heart beating faster in anticipation of breath and spirit and life.

A mighty wind rushed through the valley, stirring the clouds and causing the silent bodies to sway. And then it entered the dead men, rushed through their nostrils and down into their lungs. Ezekiel watched as chests expanded and contracted, filled with breath and spirit and life. God had breathed into them breath and spirit and life, just as he had done to Adam on the sixth day of creation.

The prophet now stood in a valley of life. All around him stood an exceedingly great army of men--living, breathing men who had so recently been nothing but dead, dry bones.

Strange and wonderful joy and anticipation bubbled up within the prophets own bones, and he looked up at the sky, which was lightening, the clouds slipping away from the sun. He waited on God.

God said, "Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, 'Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!' Therefore prophesy and say to them, "Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, O My people, I will open our graves and cause you to come up from your graves and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, Yahweh, have spoken it and performed it," says Yahweh.'"

And then God's will moved the prophet once again, lifted him up from the place where God had replaced death with life and set him down in his own home. The valley and the army were gone, replaced by the prophet's own, familiar world. But the Lord God, the Almighty, was not gone. His words remained, burning brightly in Ezekiel's heart.

_There is hope_.

(Read the original source! Scripture Reference: Ezekiel 37:1-14, with a brief reference to Psalm 23)


End file.
